Building In-Editor Tools with Blueprints | Unreal Educator Livestream

Tom Shannon, Technical Artist at Epic Games, will explore the systems available in Unreal Engine to create in-editor tools that automate and improve workflows, reduce errors, and even extend the Editor, unlocking new functionality.
Using Blueprints-the native visual scripting language in Unreal Engine-Tom will demonstrate how to create robust tools and shortcuts that can run from a right-click menu or even with a full UI built using Unreal Motion Graphics, our native UI development tool.
This stream discussed these systems, how we use them at Epic, and how you can introduce these concepts to students who show an inclination towards this aspect of tech art.
DISCUSSION THREAD
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[@RohitKotiveetil]

1:02:42 - Editor Scripting Plugin Setup 1:11:03 - How to use Editor Utility Blueprints 1:37:39 - How to use Editor Utility Widgets

[@cosmotect]

you god

[@delifisektuxedo]

In 4.27 there is NO Cast Static Mes -> Set Lods. Nada, zip nothing. Undocumented changes.... Argh

[@XHackManiacX]

@@delifisektuxedo I'm pretty new at this, but from what I can tell, set LODS is still working in UE5. But you can't call it from a regular actor blueprint. You need to be in an editor utility blueprint to call the node. And you might have to uncheck context sensitive. Bit late, but maybe it helps someone :)

[@MrMcnamex]

@@XHackManiacX still does not compile not sure if this has changed in 5.3

[@Silpheedx]

57:00 Educational content begins . Thank you :)

[@LukiGames0]

They should start using time stamps for thier videos.

[@Silpheedx]

@@LukiGames0 My hope is someday they go back to doing full educational content showing us how to do things from the ground up rather than endless hours of sizzle videos and higher ups patting each other on the back. I don't have a chip on my shoulder about it or anything lol.

[@vabs071]

please tell me how to create BUTTONS for this UNDO/REDO instead of going through the default Edit menu. I want to have buttons for this in my tool. Thanks

[@Silpheedx]

@@vabs071 Hey hey. I think what you are talking about is called Blutilities maybe? Try this kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZWkgodmn7ZmiNU and this kzbin.info/www/bejne/fom2aXupi6iEf68

[@EscapeCondition]

I hope everyone building a game has gotten the latest "blender to unreal" and "bridge to unreal" integrations up and running. Huge time savers imo, and the quixel login issues seem to be fully resolved now.

[@wolfsblessing]

For a guy that is not good at programming (learning now tho) and really good at visual, Blueprints are the best things ever. Kudos to Unreal for this because, with Blueprints I actually made a whole game and it's freaking awesome. And now going on second! Keep it up guys and never stop being epic!

[@klaryangamestudio4190]

Excellent tutorial. The way that Tom add a new input to the function blows my mind. UE rocks.

[@nikolatesla5308]

I think ue4 single handedly change the industry and I m royal to ue4

[@megansmusiccorner4666]

This was very helpful, thanks to Tom for the education!

[@li0nhart4477]

WOW this was really helpful. Previously id just use Construct to do things like randomize rotations as i drops actors in my level and see them change real time. The tools way is alot more useful and to create the LODs that way was just amazing!!. Gonna have to start making my own tools, thanks alot!!!.

[@sivavadlamani887]

Unreal is unreal with their content creation. Why are you so good?

[@ping_ms]

Hey Unreal Engine, Love the videos you guys upload and the streams such as these since they give you an insight on how to optimize your pipeline or tutorials that help newcomers understand UE and how much you of work you can do. I just have one small request, please link the the playlist on the description to spare lazy people like me the extra clicks please 🙏

[@donutguy1281]

For anyone having trouble locating the “field guide” pdf here is the url: www.unrealengine.com/en-US/blog/prepare-for-the-jobs-of-tomorrow-with-a-new-field-guide-for-creators

[@christopherparks7816]

This was fantastic. Really appreciate this one. More tutorials about creating actor tools that you can manipulate in the viewport would be cool.

[@willpianista]

Tom is amazing. Super informative and super fun.

[@Cragfury]

is there a way to ensure that the window for an editor utility widget automatically resizes to show the full extents of the canvas?

[@moshmoshpitpit]

Big shout out to Mathew Wadstein!!

[@KarstenFranke]

Hi @UnrealEngine-Team, i have only one question: Would it be feasible to add a grouping function to the Foliage tool? With many different types of foliage, it is always a long search to find the right one. A grouping function could be used to group different grasses, trees, etc., and call them up and use them with one click. Could you do this yourself - in the engine? Greetings from Germany.

[@ReubenAStern]

Wadstein is a LEGEND!! The mighty Wadstien made me the man I am today!

[@probinertasks6087]

Can't get Set LODs to work. Doesn't show up in suggested. The Static Mesh Editor Subsystem one has a Target input and errors out.

[@aaronh560]

I love it when you go to try this stuff and the options don't come up . . . even with no context filtering

[@ligaofeng3901]

Wow!!! It's so so so powerful! Thanks a lot!

[@davidwollen5818]

Great video and a shout out to Mark Flanagan who I used to work with back at Codemasters : ) Question: Could this be used to automatically duplicate a niagara emitter 100+ times and change the static mesh used in each one's mesh renderer module?

[@MrMikel85]

Have they gotten rid of 'Set LODs' in Unreal Engine 5? I can't find it or an equivalent

[@casper1716]

Hey mate did you find a solution im looking too

[@playonce4186]

*To the Unreal Team* , Please make quick and on point tutorials that are 10-20minutes long instead of these long live streams where people will lose interest. I have seen some unity tutorials and I like what they're doing with their tutorials. I want Unreal Engine to have the same kind of tutorials, please.

[@b5a5m5]

Is there an undo/transaction history pane like what's available in many adobe products?

[@lollito84]

The unpronounceable nodes are deprecatted now. Can't figure out how to fix. Nothing wants to plug. Do you have an idea ?

[@rockhamster2130]

Are you using Unreal engine 5? If so, then for "Get Selected Level Actors" and "Set LODs" you need to get the specific subsystem. You can drag "Target" out and select -> Editor Subsystems -> Get ...SubSystem Hope that this helps for you

[@WoldGlobalPlayers]

Question: I want to call a function in my Editor Uility Widget from my Editor Utility Blueprint. What Variable Type can is it ? No matter what object type I put in my variable, Editor Utility or Blueprint. I can't assign my Editor Utility Blueprint as a default Value. I'm trying to call a function from Blueprint to Blueprint

[@CarThings___]

Is it possible to automate removing components from blueprint classes? For example I have about 100 blueprint assets that have several child actor components and I want to remove these components.

[@piroman665]

Exact thing I did :D I made utility to regenerate all Megascam foliage meshes LODs and remove Billboards for some HQ render's

[@dreamshorizon3093]

Cant wait to get a beat computer to use this program for some serious projects. Want to break into he gaming industry

[@gameblast5696]

Yaaas 🍜

[@LukiGames0]

I Have Ryzen 9 3900X, 64 gb ram, RTX 2070 and its working fine, i dont need more power. Maybe in the future i buy 3090 when prices drops.

[@mohammadios]

Is there a way to make a utility that creates folders and assets in the Content browser? I googled but couldn't find anything

[@ReubenAStern]

Just made a tool to chop the junk prefixes off my anim names... took 20 mins and I didn't even know what I was doing. Probably saved me a few hundred hours.

[@jonwatte4293]

Is there a blog version of this? Video doesn't do it for me.

[@franc3d258]

Can you use this to edit Blueprint class? When I cast to a blueprint class it fails

[@ReubenAStern]

Wehey! I can take one of my dev plans to the nth degree!! In my plan it litrally says "automate, automate, automate"

[@ipanzerschrecku4732]

In short In Editor Scripting and the Editor Widget is making Unreal more procedural. Finally instead of working in level blueprints you should make a blueprint class and the use inheritance to make an instance in the level itself. Making the widget on class level means that any change will benefit all child widgets - you just have to implement it once and it can improve hundreds of widgets. Two hours is a long time therefor I use 2x playback speed to get through it.

[@jguenard7]

Anyone know a way or workaround to get an editor utility widget to work while in simulate mode?

[@stasbakalo6264]

I might be good to show example of how In-editor tools can help make scenarios very easy

[@youssefelhefnawy7009]

Hey this is super useful

[@kunara7886]

How to embed unreal editor Slate in EUW?

[@neovalkyr]

So i was trying to make my first landscape using assets from the Kite Demo as well as the starter content. Made the level using foliage tool for all the plants reduced the lod etc. but now the texture streaming pool is too high so i wanted to lower the max resolution for all the texture to 1024. it seemed to take a while so i tried to make a editor BPU to set that value. but i can not figure out what i need to attach to the Cast to Texture node. dunno if anyone can help but

[@EZduzziteh]

really good video! thanks! =)

[@likskirtspleetscreen]

Compared to other lives: In this one I feel like I'm on the source of the river of knowledge.

[@fran.fernandez]

transaction dosnt work at all for me :(

[@KiwiHawk-downunder-nz]

Can you use this to make a tool to reset the pivots to center of the mesh? or bulk export textures please, eg: selecting a folder and exporting the textures to a folder on the HDD and selecting a group of assets and setting the pivot to the center of the model. The Paragon Props assets are a great example of the problem, place an asset and the pivot/gizmo is in the next paddock (off screen)

[@Cpt.Tripps]

You can set the pivot permanently with the new modeling tools added in 4.24. Not bulk though, iirc.

[@vabs071]

1:49:18 Would anybody please tell me how to create BUTTONS for this UNDO/REDO instead of going through the default Edit menu. I want to have buttons for this in my tool. Thanks

[@techieeprog7895]

Amazing!

[@UnrealTefel]

I love Utility Widgets, we are using them a lot, recently I extended our Space Station Editor to use them for item selection: kzbin.info/www/bejne/q2nGZYRoq8pmd7M

[@jenpen3249]

I just want Qt widgets to properly parent to unreal's main window and i'm happy.

[@PauloSamurai]

Unlimited power!

[@TheFlyingEpergne]

i wrote a script on changing asset file names which works great but i can't undo ): can anyone help? i know this is an old video but worth a shot

[@XHackManiacX]

Probably a bit late but... Yeah, you're definitely on the right old video. He explains how to do it @ 1:48:00 Hope that's what you're looking for. Not sure if it works for assets as well as actors. I just started learning about these in-editor tools so I'm not much help lol

[@hobbyholic]

I always thinking that I should have studied programming... 이과 갈걸 그랬어요

[@keshav_p]

Course is available free on an app called avalon meta on Google pay btw

[@keshav_p]

From scratch

[@hobbyholic]

@@keshav_p Thanks for your comment bro!

[@ajwad3722]

13:55

[@Rokinso]

57:21

[@ajwad3722]

@@Rokinso I tip my hat to you sir!

[@doblajesimberbe1966]

Wow 2 hours just for that

[@Chikiritu]

5:54 video stated

[@Sluggernaut]

Fucking dammit. This had me all day trying to get an actor to edit itself based on its underlying data. This is really not possible beyond working with the root node. You can add data based off of information you can possibly get externally but really, you can't interact with the object like I was thinking. Wasted several days really, trying to do something that LOOKS like you can accomplish but is barely out of reach. I dont see why a blueprint class can't get it's USceneComponents though. Or any attached objects, as far as I can tell.

[@FromTheRiverToTheSeaAmIsrael]

Can you please the next time take the first hour of the stream off line? I mean, it is a waste of our time. And there is nothing educative in these conversations.

[@hemantoli6627]

First

[@SlenLen]

Who

[@andrebav493]

@@SlenLen I

[@UnrealTefel]

Second

[@SlenLen]

Cares?

[@andrebav493]

@@SlenLen Do

[@SlenLen]

@@andrebav493 I can't even express how much I like your way to reply Thank you